Wellbeing

There are so many exciting things going on in the Wellbeing space P-12 at BMGS!

Over 130 school leaders attended a Compass information webinar that AISNSW hosted in Term 4, 2020.

Following this webinar, those schools were invited to submit an expression of interest (EOI) in relation to the 2021 Compass cohort.

The AISNSW were thrilled to officially launch the Compass Pilot Cohort 2021 last week with Dr Geoff Newcombe (AISNSW Chief Executive), Professor Donna Cross and the 12 Compass school principals and their internal teams. Blue Mountains Grammar School were thrilled to be selected as one of the 12 chosen schools!

The AISNSW Wellbeing team will be working alongside each of these 12 schools over the next 12-18 months as they review and renew whole-school wellbeing.

Other Exciting Wellbeing News - Black Dog Institute & University of New South Wales

As many of you are aware, we have a partnership with the Black Dog Institute and the University of New South Wales. 

Last year the worked with our Year 8 cohort on the Smooth Sailing project. Smooth Sailing is a web-based mental health service for high school students. The service is delivered by the Black Dog Institute – one of Australia’s leading mental health organisations. Smooth Sailing was built by a team of researchers at the Institute in partnership with young people, their parents/carers, school counsellors, and health professionals. The service has been shown to improve students’ help-seeking for mental health and reduce feelings of worry. The service gave students access to a range of internet activities, resources and online modules which included information about mental health symptoms and teaches young people skills to talk to their family, friends and trusted adults about their mental health.

This year we have partnered with the Black Dog Institute and the University of New South Wales once again to work with our Year 8 students on the Future Proofing study to all Year 8 at Blue Mountains Grammar School. This study is being run by researchers at the Black Dog Institute and the University of New South Wales, along with over 170 schools, to better understand the mental health challenges of early adolescence to adulthood. Students in the study will complete surveys and try out mental health apps to identify and prevent symptoms of depression and anxiety. 

The results of this study have real potential to inform government policy and the scientific community. For this reason, we are keen to get a good representation from Blue Mountains Grammar School.  

The research team have recorded a 10-minute information webinar for parents. If you wish to learn more about the study, you can watch the webinar here: https://youtu.be/Mf2OsMfFKSs    

Mrs Alicia Michielsen

Director of Wellbeing